In April, the government introduced new policy settings for the controversial visa, including a requirement for any applicant to have three years’ relevant experience in certain roles, including kitchen hands and housekeepers, for example.
In June, the Queenstown hotel sector, alone, was faced with losing 40% of its workforce — almost 1000 workers — between now and February, when workers’ visas were due to expire.
Due to the change in policy settings, even workers employed in a role through the AEWV may not qualify for a one-year visa extension, due to lack of experience.
Immigration Minister Erica Stanford has announced exemptions for certain industries, including tourism and hospitality, which applies to visas due to expire before the end of March 31, 2025, provided the employee is seeking a one-year extension for the same job.
Queenstown Business Chamber of Commerce chief executive Sharon Fifield describes it as "a good win", though notes there is a devil in the detail.
While tourism and hospitality workers on the two-year AEWV, with potential for a third, had to be paid $28.18 an hour, employers will have to pay workers who successfully gain the extension $29.66 per hour.
"There’ll still be some employers that just can’t do that", Ms Fifield says.
"When you think about some of the larger employers, it’s an extra $1.50 ... per hour, it just has that knock-on effect right through their labour force."
Hospitality NZ comms and advocacy head Sam MacKinnon said the exemption from the minimum skill requirement should ensure Queenstown hospitality businesses can hang on to some key migrant staff this summer, "provided they want to stick around for that long".
But he was quietly concerned the broader review being carried out by Ms Stanford might make it harder to access them in future.
"With any review, [it] can be a bit ‘be careful what you wish for’.
"Hopefully, some clarity will be provided, particularly for our business owners to know how to work through that process, but also for migrants.
"They want to know whether or not they’ve got a future here in NZ, but whether the result of the review is more or less lenient than the rules we currently have remains to be seen."
Ms Fifield said she understood consultation on further changes to immigration policy would start later this month, with submissions closing mid-October.
